Vision for 4th and 5th Grade:

At Impact, the 4th and 5th Grade ministry is referred to as “DownTown.” In DownTown, we desire to help 4th and 5th Grade kids take their next step in their relationship with Jesus. Families and kids come from all different walks of life. Some have attended Impact since birth. Others have recently started attending. Still others only recently started asking questions about Jesus or began a relationship with Him. No matter what stage of life we meet the kids in, we want to walk them into their next step toward and with Jesus as we equip and walk with the kids’ primary disciplers: you. The parents and caretakers of these awesome, little disciples.

In DownTown we want to prepare the 4th and 5th Graders for middle school. One of the ways we do this is by increasing the amount of time the 4th and 5th Graders listen to teaching and engage in small group discussion. We also hope they would have completed the Next Steps from each preceding age group. However, this is not a requirement. All Next Steps can be found outside the corresponding KidZone rooms or on the resource pages for the corresponding age groups. Feel free to grab these cards or refer to these resources. We are more than willing to discuss any of these previous or potential Next Steps with you. It is our honor to love and serve you and your children.

Next Steps:

We believe that we are always growing in our relationship with Jesus, even before we have given our lives to him. Therefore, we have set some possible next steps, with biblical references, for each age range. Our curriculum is based around helping kids of every age take these next steps. We also believe that words are a huge part of a child’s development and spiritual growth. Some example phrases you can say to your child (according to their age) are compiled below.

4th Grade Next Steps:

To independently study passages from the Bible (Psalm 119:11)

To have the opportunity to participate in baptism (Matthew 28:19-20)

To begin to learn how to explain the different parts of the Trinity (Matthew 3:16-17 - the whole Trinity is present in this passage)

Phrases to say to your 4th grader:

“I have noticed…”

“Jesus thinks you’re awesome.”

“You are beautiful/handsome inside and out.”

“I can always count on you to…”

“Tell me more…”

5th Grade Next Steps:

To be able to come up with own next step in our relationship with Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18)

To know your story, own your story, share your story (1 Peter 3:15)

To have the opportunity to participate in baptism (Matthew 28:19-20)

Phrases to say to your 5th grader:

“I have noticed…”

“I’ve been thinking…”

“Jesus thinks you’re awesome.”

“You are beautiful/handsome inside and out.”

“You’ll do well in middle school because…”